MINNEAPOLIS – The Browns have used three quarterbacks in three games. None enjoy the passer rating of the team punter.

Think you’re surprised? You should have seen the expressions on the Minnesota Vikings when Spencer Lanning, holding for a 29-yard field goal attempt Sunday, picked up the ball and threw in the direction of a wide-open Jordan Cameron.

The trick play – one of several sprung on the Vikings – produced an 11-yard, second-quarter touchdown pass in the Browns’ 31-27 victory in the Metrodome.

“The only thing I was thinking was not over-throwing him,” said Lanning, credited with a 152.1 passer rating. “(I) just wanted to get him the ball. I didn't want to zip it out there. We've seen guys around the league run the same play and overthrow the guy.”

View full sizeBrowns tight end Jordan Cameron scores a second-quarter touchdown on a pass from punter Spencer Lanning.Joshua Gunther, The Plain Dealer

Desperate for their first win, the Browns successfully executed two fakes on special teams, leading to 10 second-quarter points. On the drive prior to Lanning’s touchdown pass, upback Josh Aubrey rumbled 34 yards on a fake punt.

The organization entered the season vowing to play “fearless” football. CEO Joe Banner encourages his coaches to take risks and thumb noses at convention.

The Browns arrived in Minneapolis having already attempted an NFL-leading six fourth-down conversions. They are now 4-of-9, which includes a failed attempt to pick up a fourth-and-4 at the Minnesota 37.

“(Coach Rob Chudzinski) made some gutsy calls today,” linebacker D’Qwell Jackson said. “. . . Coach Chud preaches he’s going to attack. If you’re called upon, he expects you to make a play and Spencer did. We practice that every now and again, but to actually see it called in a game it was surprising to me. Thank goodness it worked.”

When asked if Lanning’s throw could create a quarterback controversy, Jackson was momentarily confused.

“Spencer Lanning? The kicker?” Jackson said. “I didn’t know that was even planned.”

It was – sorta. The Browns ran onto the field and split Cameron to the right sideline. If the Vikings covered him, the Browns would kick the ball. But when Lanning saw the tight end unmarked, he came out of his crouch and threw the ball.

“I was hoping they didn’t see me,” said Cameron who caught three TDs against the Vikings. “You look in and no one was looking at me. We got lucky. It’s one of the things we’ve been practicing the last couple weeks and we got lucky today.”

Lanning, a South Carolina product, has thrown only one other pass, a college completion against the University of Florida.

“It's all about execution,” Lanning said. “It never goes exactly how you plan it or how you practice it. I just wanted to make sure everyone was set and I took a peek outside and saw nobody was covering him.”

What an amazing team victory... Everyone left it all out there today. So proud to be a Cleveland Brown!

Lanning has become the Browns’ Swiss Army knife. He also kicked the final extra point after kicker Billy Cundiff injured a quad. Lanning said he was prepared to kick a field goal – as he did in the final pre-season game -- if Cameron didn’t catch the 7-yard touchdown from Brian Hoyer with 51 seconds remaining.

“It's something I have confidence in,” he said. “When it comes down to it, it's anything I can do to help the team win.”

Aubrey echoed Lanning’s comments.

While the fake field-goal attempt was contingent on the Vikings’ alignment, the fake punt was planned all the way. Aubrey burst through a huge hole on a fourth-and-1 from the Browns’ 38.

“The play was made for like a 2-yard gain,” he said. “So we were going to run it regardless. Then, for some reason the (Minnesota) end went out and the tackle went in and it left a big old crease. . . I was thinking, ‘Did that really happen? Did it just open up like that? When I saw it I got so excited.”

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